Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1887-03-12
AN INVISIBLE WIRE.
Tappers Tap the Wire Leading TO
the Birmingham FXchange
Fran the At,anta (GG.) c astttutton.

the Birmingham FXch ange.
Fro,a the AEantu (GG.) c astitutton.
MIR. Sid Phelan, of the Gate City Cotton
Exchange, has returned from Birming-
ham, where be has just concluded tus-
sic with the wire tappers.
at was the sharpest trick in wire-tap,
ping ever perpetr ated, l suppose" SAID
Mr.. Pnelan yesterday.
AS mis- experience with the market ma
nipulators cost him about $lO,OOO, Mr..
I Phelan NAV be considered an authority
On the subject.
Mr.. Phelan has an exchange in Mont
gomery and another in Birmingham, De-
side his exchange IN Atlanta, and the
marked quotations are sent from Atlanta,
via Montgomery to Birmingham, each
exchange receiving the news at the same
time.
Now II the wire over which the news to
an exchange is passing be tapped the
quotations can be manipulated ana trades
can be made in the exchange to suit the
wire tappers.
Being in possession Of the line the wire
Taper can sendth market either up or
down.
About two months ago." said Mr.
Phelan, 1.-THE wire leading to the BIZ
mingham exchange was tapped some
where inside the limits OF Birmingham
with marvellous success, and the manlp-
ulators very soon struck us tor $4,000
though l had TO pay only $4,000 OF that
amount. When the manpulators got
possession of the wire over which we
were receiving the quotations they were
in position TO run prices either up or
down by simply mutilating the quota
lions. For instance, when Louisville
and Nashville was really 66s, the fellows
in possession OF the wire would send IL
in a. 65N. and their representatives on
the flor Of the exchange would Duy at
that figure. Then they would quote the
stock at 81, decided rise, and close out,
sticking the exchange for the difference.
Why, they had dead sure thing, as
they were fixing their buying prices
and their selling prices, and we were
dancing to their music.
ITO give you an idea or how completely
we were in the hands of wire tapp9rs, let
me tell you this:' When the manager OF
the Birmingham exchange had his sus-
plcions aroused he did what we call ask
ing for a verification. That request had
10 20 to New York ana the quotation had
to come pack signed by the manager OF
/ he gold and STOCK telegraph company.
Well, the request tor verification was
sent, and in about twenty minutes the
able manipulatOrs called up the exchange
and very kindly told us the quotation was
o. X, and signed their mutilating
selves "Dealy," which was just
the way the veritication would
have been signed ii it had really
come from New York. They had such
complete possession Of the quotations
that we could not get the correct figures
from our other exchanges except by mail.
AS soon as the quotations for Atlanta
were compared with the quotations in
Birmingham the fraud was shown be-
You'd the possibility of doubt, and in
settling refused to pay $4,000 of the i'll
gotten profits"
"Did you ever hear from Dealy"
son, yes; be says he did not send in the
veriication which was palmed off on us
AS coming from him."
"1'he wires were tapped againw
Eyes, the wires were tapped on the first
| day of this month and they got us for
ABOUT 81. 900, which was settled by arbi-
tration yesterday on the payment of about
| s., $780,"
"Was the thing worked the same as be-
| foreP'
mo, the quotations were not mutilated
| but they were taken off and held back
until trades could be made on the figures
in possession of the wire tappers. The
tapping was done with an invisible wire,
and when on the morning of the first we
| asked Montgomery the time of day the
| question was taken off by the wire tap
pers, who replied. Instead OF giving US
the true time they made us, set our clock
[ twelve minutes slow. AS the quotations
| came in then the wlre-tappers took them
off. In that way they saw the quotations
twelve minutes before they were received
in the exchange, and could trade with an
absolute knowledge of which way
| the market was going. Well, we
sold 4,00G barrels of pork at SIT 30 per bar
rel, and it rose to SIS 10 in about ten
minutes. That was very lively market,
but the only thing wrong was the delay
in receiving it. At 1917 somebody sign.
ing himself Montgomery asked Birming.
ham what time it was, and our operator
replied: why, man, you just gave me
the time few minutes ago. TO which the
reply came: oh, this id clock has stop
ped The tapping of the wire was evi
dent to us then. The pork buyers held or
and closed out at $ls 30. We charged
that the wires were tapped. and a board
of arbitration yesterday decided the mat
ter by requiring us to pay only the profit
on the pork IN the rise from SIS 10 tC
SIS 80, which was 40c. a barrel. 1t cos
US about 81, 800, We lost by the two tap
pings very nearly 100000"
"Did the tapping OF the line require
much trouble on the part OF the swim
dlersr
"lt did. The vast stretch OF wire ovel
which the news comes to us requires 6
hundred cells in Birmingham for its sup
ply OF electricity. If, when the wire wai
tapped, they had done nothing to offse
their lack OF wire, the flood of electricity
would have sent a streak OF fire into the
exchange and the instrument would have
worked like sledge hammer. We will
guard against wire tapping in the future
by putting in set of quadruple instru
ments which will supply too much cleo
tricity for wire tappers to manipulate.
Mr.. Phelan says the telegraph people
all bear him out in the statement that thC